Siren Star
“The song, it come through the Vox, clear as day and twice as loud. It promised us easy living, plenty of amasec and freedom from our bonds. Ev’ry hand aboard turned to his job right quick. We stretched out, but we never made it. A solar storm blew up and smashed the ship apart. Only me and a few of me messmates made it out in one of the ship’s boats. I’m tellin’ you boys, there’s a star out there that sings to you, and it’s the prettiest song you ever heard.” –Able Voidman Jak Plaice, former Gunner’s Mate of the Avarice Rumors abound throughout the Koronus Expanse of a lone star in an empty system that mourns for its lost children, the long-dead inhabitants of the worlds it holds in orbit. It’s said that this star sings a sad and deeply compelling song that can be heard through a ship’s vox systems throughout the system. This song calls out to voidfarers, promising them peace and leisure and protection in the loving embrace of the star. It causes pressed men and Rogue Traders alike to throw aside all caution and run straight to the heart of the system in search of the source of this song. Those that succumb to the Song disappear into the void, never to be seen again. Some say that the star itself swallows ships and crews whole. Others say vile xenos live in the system, and they use the Song to lure in unsuspecting ships for their unspeakable designs. Others say it’s daemons or spirits or one of a hundred other horrors cooked up by the over active imaginations of voidmen. No matter the cause, some version of this story can be heard in every tavern, public house and ship’s mess in the Expanse. While none agree on where this star lies and what danger it hides, they all agree on one point. The only voidmen known to have seen the star and lived to tell the tale were among the crew of the doomed tradeship Avarice. Avarice, an extravagantly appointed Dauntless-class light cruiser formerly of the Imperial Navy, was the pride of a shipping fleet owned by a Rogue Trader named Graydon Gekkonidae. She disappeared with all hands, including her dashing captain, somewhere in the Heathen Stars region. A few years later, voidmen claiming to be the sole survivors of the Avarice began turning up in Port Wander and Footfall, spinning tales of a system where the star sang a song full of promise and hope. A song that drew their ship in and caused them to be dashed apart in an asteroid field by a violent warp storm. Being common deck hands, none could accurately describe where they’d been shipwrecked, but they all agreed that they were in or around the Heathen Stars region, and what they heard coming over the ship’s vox was irresistible to even the most jaded and stalwart voidman. Rumors spread, and eventually the story passed into legend. 'A Lonesome Star' As is often the case with legends, very few of the details of this rumored Siren Star are correct, but there is truth at the core of the story. On the far Spinward side of the Heathen Stars region, not far from the baleful light of the Rifts of Hecaton, is an abandoned system charted millennia ago by an unnamed surveyor and labelled on ancient charts as Devia Sirenum. Aside from bare facts such as the type and size of Devia Sirenum’s star, the number of planets and known navigational hazards, the only detail included in the report of any interest is the notation “Celestial Anomaly” attached to the description of the star itself. No other information appears in the chart, and no hint as to the nature of this celestial anomaly. Once the survey was complete, it seems that the system was judged unimportant and never revisited, only to be rediscovered centuries later by the Avarice. The Devia Sirenum system is long dead, scoured of all life by some unnamed calamity ages before it was charted. The star itself is close to the end if its days, a dim white dwarf languishing at the center of the system, struggling to cast its weak, guttering light to the outer planets. Vast asteroid fields and rings of debris orbit close to the star, the apparent remains of the system’s inner planets. The outer planets, a mix of dead, ice-covered rocks and massive gas giants, circle in their ancient tracks, waiting out their final days. The only evidence that life ever existed here are a handful of dead, artificial satellites of unknown and obvious xenos origin, some ruins on a few of the outer planets, and a strange, lingering radiation that disrupts auger arrays. The most notable thing about this system, aside from its desolation, is the “celestial anomaly,” a sharp, keening wail that seems to emanate from Devia Sirenum itself. The star emits a jumble of frequencies that are picked up on nearly every wireless system used in shipboard and in-system communication. What causes this star to sing and broadcast its songs to passing ships is unknown; it could be a natural phenomenon, or the work of some daemon or even some ancient xenos technology. Whatever the cause, it is this noise that gives Devia Sirenum its more common nickname, the Siren Star. The star’s song drives men to distraction or madness, and compels them to make all possible speed toward the center of the system and the embrace of the star’s fierce glow. Aside from the star and its song, there are a multitude of other threats within the system that make travelling through it a dangerous proposition. Dense asteroid fields, dangerous gravitational tides, and vicious solar storms that can blow up without a moment’s notice present constant navigation hazards. Pirates lurk among the asteroid fields close to the center of the system, preying on the unfortunates who are lured in by the mysterious star. 'Ancient Radiation' The lingering radiation from Devia Sirenum’s ancient and unnamed cataclysm makes navigating the system fairly difficult. The interfering fallout ebbs and flows, reducing a ship’s Detection by 2d10 (re-roll each day the ship is in the system), and reduces the range of all ship-to-ship vox systems to a distance of fifty kilometers. The reduction in vox range does not affect a ship’s ability to hear the song of the Siren Star, for that plaintive wail can be heard everywhere in the system. 'The Draw of the Siren Star' The plaintive song of the Siren Star can have such control over the minds of men that they will rush to their deaths only so that they can be closer to its source. Whenever a voidship enters the Devia Sirenum system, its vox and any other wireless comms systems immediately pick up the star’s song, enthralling the Explorers and damaging Morale. Upon hearing the song for the first time, each Explorer needs to pass a Hard (–20) Willpower Test to withstand the draw of the Siren Star. If he succeeds without any degrees of success, he still takes a –10 to any tasks so long as he can hear the sound. If he fails the Test he feels a compulsion to travel towards the system’s center, giving orders to that effect and arguing strongly if anyone disagrees. He suffers 1d5 Insanity Points and also suffers a –20 to all Tests due to the enthralling star, but every 6 hours he can attempt another Hard (–20) Willpower Test to snap out of it. He can also attempt the Test at the GM’s discretion if another Explorer makes a concerted effort to get through to him. However, if a player fails by five or more degrees, he is immediately driven completely mad (suffering 1d5+2 Insanity Points) and will do anything and everything in his power to reach the source, including attacking shipmates, stealing ship’s boats, or even throwing himself out of an airlock. The only help for a character so compelled is to be restrained by his fellows until he can be taken somewhere out of earshot of the Song, at which point he may make a Hard (–20) Willpower Test every six hours to snap out of it. For every full six hours the Explorer is not exposed to the Song, the Test decreases in difficulty by one degree. Upon hearing the Song, a ship’s crew immediately loses 2d10 points of Morale, and an Explorer in a position of authority must make a Difficult (–10) Command or Charm Test. Success means the Explorers shut off vox communications and isolate the crew from the call of the star, suffering no further effect. For every degree of failure however, the crew loses an additional 5 Morale as the men begin to clamour for the song. For every thirty minutes that the ship remains in the system with the vox or other wireless comms systems active, the crew loses an additional two points of Morale as the call of the star spreads throughout the decks. Any Explorer who succeeds on their Willpower Tests can attempt to shut down the ship’s wireless vox systems to prevent the song from being heard. While shutting down the vox systems will isolate the crew from the Song, it obviously makes ship-to-ship communication with any cohorts difficult short of sending ships boats back and forth with messengers. If a Explorer or NPC has the skill, he can make a Difficult (–10) Scholastic Lore: Cryptology test to use the ship’s running lights to send messages back and forth using ancient Naval semaphore codes. During the attempt to shut down the vox systems or wrest control of the ship from those already in the grip of the song, the Explorer may very well be prevented from doing so by those who have already succumbed to the compulsion. This could lead to situations where one half of the crew is battling the other among the decks, or where the bridge officers are trying desperately to wrest control of the ship for themselves to either escape or plunge further into the system to their doom. A ship with its crew in the full grip of the song, barring any accidents or interdiction by the system’s pirates, will plunge at full speed directly into the heart of the star. 'Pirates of the Siren Star' The details on the pirates who live among the asteroids at the center of the system have been left intentionally vague to allow the Game Master to tailor the encounter to match the strength of his players and the theme of his ongoing campaign. If the Game Master has no specific idea in mind that fits in with his campaign, he is free to choose from the following suggestions. Renegades The pirates are a group of human predators from somewhere in the Expanse. Whether fallen Rogue Traders or career pirates, these killers have found life easy and the pickings rich in Devia Sirenum. They have become immune to the Siren Star through either mutation, constant exposure or by simply keeping their wireless comms sets turned off. Game Masters should use the stats for Voidfarers, Mutant Outcasts, Renegades and Void Pirate Captains, and the ships should be either Hazeroth-class privateers or Havoc-class merchant raiders, or Wolfpack Raiders. Xenos Vile xenos pirates have set up shop in Devia Sirenum and are preying on the unfortunate, misguided victims of the star’s Song. They could be Eldar Corsairs, Ork Freebooters or even some home-grown xenos terror that the Game Master would like to unleash on the players. Whomever they are and wherever they come from, due to their alien nature they are immune to the song of the Siren Star. Game Masters should use the stats for Eldar Corsairs and Ork Freebooters, or feel free to create some new race. Their ships will typically be Eldar light cruisers like the Memory of Lament, or the Onslaught Ork Raider. For campaign specific xenos created by the Game Master, their ships should be based on the Wolfpack Raiders. Category:Heathen Stars Category:Koronus Expanse Category:Stars